A friend gave me a bagful of warrigal greens a few days ago. She told me to blanched it for about 3- 4 minutes before cooking it. I can cook it with garlic alone or with sambal. I search google to know what is warrigal greens as this is the first time, I have heard of it and browsing for recipes for how to cook it.
Google: “Warrigal greens Tetragonia tetragonioides are an edible Australian native groundcover. This bushfood is a member of the family Aizoaceae and is related to marigolds and figs. It is also native to New Zealand and countries around the Pacific rim, sometimes referred to as New Zealand spinach or Botany Bay spinach. Its Australian name comes from the Aboriginal word “warrigal” meaning wild or wild dog and the scientific name reflects its 10-sided seeds.”
“The leaves make a wonderful spinach substitute, but stems are not edible. Leaves are high in vitamins A, B1, B2 and C3 and fibre as well as anti-oxidants4. They have a mild taste, but since they contain high levels of oxalic acid. The leaves of Warrigal greens have a mild flavour, similar to spinach, and it can substitute for this vegetable in most recipes. It is becoming increasingly popular with chefs as a bush food (although it’s now mostly commercially sourced), and can be found on the menu of many top-end restaurants.”
“The stalks and stems on leafy greens are completely edible and can add a nice crunch when eaten raw. Most collard recipes call to discard the stems because they’re so fibrous, but if you chop them small, they will cook just like the leafy greens. The finished dish is just as delicious and a lot thriftier than traditional collard greens, and the pleasantly-supple stems give these greens a distinctive bite.”
As usual I like to explore the combination of various food. I use some warrigal greens and added carrot, smoked honey bacon and cook it in black pepper butter sauce. Warrigal greens do have salty taste, I am glad the smoked honey bacon balance the flavour, carrot for colouring and healthy comforting meal with black pepper butter for sauce. It’s sure is delicious and crunchy a bit from the stems. Let’s cook, taste and see for yourself!!!
Ingredients
1/2 c wilted warrigal greens with stems
2 small carrots, cut to bite size
1 1/2 strips smoked honey bacon, cut into small bite
2-3 Tbs butter
1 Tbs minced garlic
1 lime juice
1/2 lime zest
chili flakes (OPT)
oil
salt (OPT)
black pepper
Method
For wilted warrigal: Put a pot of water onto boil. Drop the stems in for 2 minutes then the greens in the water and cook for 1-3 minutes. Refresh in a colander with cold, running water to retain the green colour: separate stems and leaves. Squeeze water and set aside. These also freeze well.
Place 1 Tbs oil in saucepan on medium heat, add bacon cook until crispy and remove to a plate. Next add in a bit more oil, if necessary, then add in garlic cook for 1 minutes. Followed by carrots cook for 3 minutes. Now add in warrigal stems cook for 2 minutes if you want it a bit softer. Next add in the leaves cook 1-2 minutes.
Add in butter, lime juice, zest, chili flakes and black pepper, mix well with vegetables for about 2 minutes. Add back bacon and toss to mix well and taste for seasoning. Add salt if you like a bit salty. Spoon onto plate, eat it with rice and roast chicken. Serve with a glass of white wine. Enjoy!!!!
#helenscchinrecipes
#vegetablesmeal
#cookingforthefun
#foodiesplus
helenscchin's Blog 
One thought on “Warrigal greens carrots smoked honey bacon in black pepper butter sauce”
Comments are closed.